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EARLY ACCOUNTS OF PETROLEUM 



IN THE UNITED STATES. 

BY WILLIAM J. BUCK. 


Read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania , on Monday 

Eveniny , March 13, 1876. 


The earliest information respecting Pe¬ 
troleum known to us within the limits of 
the United States, is that derived from the 
French missionary, Joseph Delaroche 
Daillon, of the order of Recollects, who 
penetrated into the interior of the present 
State of New York, and in a letter of July 
18th, 1627, describing the section he had 
visited, mentions amongst its productions 
a good kind of oil which the Indians call 
a ton ronton. For this account we are in¬ 
debted to Sagard’s Histoire du Canada, 
wherein it was published in 1632, and who 
says the meaning thereof is “ there is 
plenty there,” or “ how much there is !” 
The locality of this natural oil is supposed 
to be near the present town of Cuba in 
Allegheny county, about eighteen miles 
north of the Pennsylvania line. On 
Champlain’s map of New France, pre¬ 
pared in 1632, he locates in this vicinity 
an Indian tribe by the'name of “ Anton- 
ontons,” which we are inclined to believe 
is the same in name and meaning, and 
which Hunepin in 1698 calls “ Tsonnon- 
toucins,” corroborated by Charlevoix’ Jour¬ 
nal in 1721, and Beilin’s map of 1744. 
Probably there may be a connection in 
the derivation of the name as applied to 
the oil and to the settlement and tribe of 
the vicinity. 

According to Charlevoix, about the year 
1642 several Jesuits in their zeal for ex¬ 
tending their missionary labors, penetra¬ 
ted into the same territory, and that in 
approaching the country of the ancient 
Fries, found a thick oily stagnant water, 
which on the application of fire would 
burn like brandy. The Messrs. Dollier 
and Galinee, missionaries of the order of 


St. Sulpice, prepared a map of the 
country around lakes Ontario, Erie 
and Michigan and parts adjacent, 
which they had explored chiefly 
by water in canoes. A copy of this map 
with a relation of their travels was sent by 
the latter to Jean Talon, Intendent, of Can¬ 
ada, the 10th of November, 1670, and has 
marked on it “Fontaine de bitume,” about 
where is now the aforesaid town of Cuba. 
This is very probably the first mention 
ever made on a map of Petroleum in our 
country. A copy of the same may be seen 
in the “Histoire de la Colonie Francaise,” 
(vol. 3, p. 305), published at Paris in 1866. 

From the Indians the English learned 
at a much later period of its existence. 
For the Earl of Bellomont, Governor of 
New York, by his instructions dated Al¬ 
bany, September 3d, 1700, to Colonel 
Wolfgang W. Romer, Chief Engineer of 
the Province, upon his visit to the Five 
Nations, wherein he says : 

You are to go and view a well or spring 
which is eight miles beyond the Seneks 
furthest castle, which they have told me 
blazes up in a flame when a lighted coale 
or firebrand is put into it; you will do 
well to taste the said water, and give me 
your opinion thereof and bring with you 
some of it. 

I regret on this matter that I am not 
able to furnish the result. We have evR 
dence, however, by what is given, that 
Lord Bellomont’s attention became intern 
ested from the reports he had heard com 
cerning it. 

That observing missionary and his¬ 
torian, Peter Xavier Charlevoix, by order 
of the French Govrnment visited Canada 
the second time in 1720, In. the journal 












of his voyage and travels, under date of 
River des Sables, May, 1721, in describing 
the Genesee, which he calls by its Indian 
name of Casconehiagon, says : 

The course of this river is 100 leagues ; 
and when we have gone up it about sixty 
leagues we have but ten to go by land, 
taking to the right to arrive at the Ohio. 
called La Belle Reviere. The place where 
we meet with it is called Ganos, where an 
officer worthy of credit assured me that 
he had seen a fountain, the water of which 
is like oil and has the taste of iron. He 
said, also, a little further there is another 
fountain exactly like it, and that the 
savages made use of it to appease all man¬ 
ner of pains. 

By the river of Sables, he means a small 
stream emptying into Lake Ontario, within 
the present limits of Oswego county. In 
a note mentions that the officer that fur¬ 
nished him with the information was M. 
de Joncaire, a captain in the French army, 
of whom we shall shortly have more to 
say. Ganos , according to James Bruyas, 
a missionary on the Mohawk, in 1667, is 
derived from the word genie, or gaienna, 
which in the Iroquois language signifies 
liquid grease, or oil. 

In the summer of 1767 Sir William 
Johnson was sent to Niagara for the pur¬ 
pose of transacting business with the In¬ 
dians. From his journal we learn that on 
September 19 th 

“ Ascushan came in with a quantity of 
curious oyl, taken at the top of the water 
of some very small lake near the village 
he belongs to.” 

It is mentioned that three days after he 
had “ set off for the Genesee Castle,” which 
appears to have been near this celebrated 
spring or fountain. A correspondent in a 
letter dated May 24th, 1822, and published 
in Spajford's Gazetteer , says : 

The Seneca Oil spring, noticed in the' 
first edition as in Cattaraugus county, is 
actually in Alleghany, and in the town of 
Cuba, about one mile from the line. 

In the Gazetteer of New York, a most 
valuable work published in this city in 
1886, by our late fellow member Thomas 
F. Gordon, there is an interesting account 


which we cannot do better than transcribe 
and appears to corroborate what has been 
brought together in these researches : 

The famed Senaca Oil spring rises in a 
marsh. It is a muddy, circular, stagnant 
pool about eighteen feet in diameter, with 
no visible outlet, and no other circulation 
than may be caused by changes of tem¬ 
perature and passage of the gas and 
petroleum which are constantly rising, 
and which emit an odour sometimes per¬ 
ceptible at a distance. The water is coated 
with a thin layer of the mineral oil, giving 
it a yellowish brown colour, similar to 
dirty molasses, exhibiting little of the 
iredescence which is commonly observed 
in this substance when floating upon 
water; yet small portions of this 
character are visible. The oil is collected 
by skimming it from the fountain, and 
used for rheumatism, and for sprains and 
sores. The spring was much prized bv 
the Indians, and a square mile around it 
has been reserved for the Senecas. A 
small branch of Oil Creek, taking its name 
from the spring which flows to the Gulf 
of Mexico, whilst the waters of Black 
Creek, which interlock with it, pass by the 
Genesee into Lake Ontario. The earth in 
the vicinity of the spring we are describ¬ 
ing, is strongly impregnated with the 
Petroleum, and its presence is deemed in¬ 
dicative of bituminous coal beneath ; a 
bed of which, we are told, has been dis¬ 
covered near the spring, and hopes are 
entertained that it may prove valuable. 
The opinion hitherto received by men of 
science has been, that though the coal 
formation extends here from Pennsylvania 
it lies at vast depths. 

Disturnall in his Gazateer of New York, 
published in 1842, mentions that: 

The oil spring, on the west line of Alle¬ 
ghany, belonging to the Seneca Indians, 
yields large quantities of Seneca oil, and 
is an object of considerable interest. 

Other springs are also mentioned in the 
State of New York but do not appear to 
have assumed the importance of this. As 
for instance near the Canquaqa Creek in 
Erie county, in the vicinity of Fredonia, 
Cliatauque county; and at Freedom in 
Cattaraugus county, besides several places 
in the vicinity of Seneca Lake. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

We shall next turn our attention to the 









3 


early accounts of Petroleum in Pennsyl¬ 
vania, now by far tlie greatest producer of 
this commodity in America if not in the 
world. I have been unable to find any 
earlier mention of it here than that of 
Charlevoix in his journal of May, 1721, 
wherein he says that Captain de Joncaire, 
a man worthy of credit, had assured him 
in speaking of the fountain of oil called 
Ganos at the head of a branch of the Ohio, 
now better known as the Allegheny river, 
and had also mentioned that beyond it “ a 
little further there is another fountain 
exactly like it and that the savages made 
use of its water to appease all manner of 
pains.” 

As the missionary had this information 
direct from the Sieur Thomas de Joncaire, 
as he calls him, but by other documents 
find him also called Cliabert de Joncaire, 
it is in consequence possible that his 
nartie was Thomas Chabert de Joncaire, 
which might reconcile the discrepancy. 
Being satisfied by my investigations from 
the positions he had assumed that the 
same person was meant. As it is probable 
that he may have been the first European 
that visited the Oil Region of this State, 
at least the first known that took notice 
of it and communicated the important 
fact to others, with the celebrity the 
Indians attached to it, though now more 
than a century and a half have elapsed. 
In the history of this great community 
his name certainly stands prominent as an 
early observer and explorer, and for which 

he deserves some additional notice. 

The Iroquois in the year 1700 ask per¬ 
mission of the Governor General at Mon¬ 
treal that he may be permitted with two 
others to return with them to their coun¬ 
try. This was granted and he set out in 
their company to the Seneca canton, 
where, on account of his popularity he 
was adopted as one of their nation. We 
infer from what has been stated, that the 
locality where he was taken to, and the 
chief residence of the Indians, must have 
been near the Cuba Oil Spring. In addi¬ 


tion it would seem that he had actually 
visited the Petroleum springs of New 
York and Pennsylvania, as we know that 
he remained with them at least some time 
into the following year. He thus ac¬ 
quired their language and partially 
adopted their customs, the source of his 
almost unbounded influence amongst them 
as well as the indefatigable promoter 
of French interests. In 1720 we know 
that he resided at the present site of 
Lewiston on the Niagara river, seven miles 
from Lake Ontario, and as a Captain in 

the army, restored the post at said place. 

In the fall of this year while voy¬ 
aging on the Genesee river, the severe 
weather coming on sooner than was ex¬ 
pected, was so frozen in as to oblige him 
to remain there over winter. The Mar¬ 
quis de Beauharnois, Governor General of 
New France, in October, 1732, sent him to 
the Indian settlement on the Allegheny, 
then better known as the Ohio, six leagues 
below Le Bceuf river, now French Creek, 
to influence them not to suffer the English 
to come and trade in those parts. His 
mission here, in part, was no doubt based 
on a previous knowledge of the country 
and of its inhabitants. In 1736 he made a 
report to the Superintendent at Montreal 
of all the Indians whom he regarded as 
connected with the Government of Can¬ 
ada. Captain de Joncaire died at the post 
of Niagara in September 1740, greatly 
lamented by the Indians, as well as his 
countrymen. 

We have another evidence that the 
northwestern section of Pennsylvania and 
parts adjacent must have been explored 
earlier than is commonly supposed, by a 
document giving an account of the In¬ 
dians residing between Lake Erie and the 
Mississippi, written in 1718, from which 
we make the following extract: “ There 

is no need of fasting, deer and buffaloes 
being found in abundance on the south 
side of Lake Erie.” It was owing to this 
fact that the River Le Bceuf received its 
name. Beilin’s map of Louisiana, pub- 





4 


lislied at Paris in 1744, and which has re¬ 
ceived so little attention from onr his¬ 
torians, also confirms this in its general 
accuracy, by which the several lakes, 
creeks and rivers of this section are laid 
down, comparing which with our modern 
maps could never have been done without 
a pretty careful examination of the coun¬ 
try. Perhaps no small portion derived 
from the travels of Captain de Joncaire. 

Apprehending troubles from the en¬ 
croachments of the English, on what they 
regarded as theirs by right of discovery 
and occupation, Gallisoniere the Gov¬ 
ernor General of New France, dispatched 
Louis Celeron with a party in the summer 
of 1749 to take possession of all the coun¬ 
try on both sides of the Ohio river and of 
its tributaries. Stating that the kings of 
France had acquired this right also by 
their arms and by the several treaties of 
Ryswick, Utrecht and Aix la Chapelle. To 
this effect he buried a leaden plate con- 
taintaining an inscription at the confluence 
of French Creek and the present Alle¬ 
gheny. To sustain this and to open the 
way for better occupation, forts were built 
in the spring and summer of 1753 at 
Presque Isle on Lake Erie, and a wagon 
road six leagues in length to the portage 
on French Creek, near the present town of 
Waterford, where a fort was also erected. 
It was to the latter that Washington was 
sent by Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, 
in the fall of 1753, to inquire of the French 
commander their designs in occupying 
the country. He arrived at Venango, De¬ 
cember 4tli, of which in his journal says, 
that, 

It is an old Indian town, situated at the 

mouth of French Creek on the Ohio. Cap¬ 
tain Joncaire informed me that he had the 
command of the Ohio, also interpreter to 
the Indians. They pretend to have an 
undoubted right to the river from a dis¬ 
covery made by one La Salle, sixty years 
ago. The first fort is on French Creek, 
near a small lake about sixty miles from 
Venango, near north northwest; the next 
lies on Lake Erie, where the greater part 


of their stores are kept, about fifteen 
miles from the other. 

About the 16th he left the fort on his 
return, and says of French Creek that 

It is extremely crooked. I dare say the 
distance between the fort and Venango 
cannot be less than 130 miles, to follow its 
meanders. 

The Captain Joncaire here mentioned, 
was one of the sons of the explorer 
spoken of. The following spring the fort 
at Venango was completed, and in the 
same year Fort Du Quesne at the present 
site of Pittsburgh. Owing to adverse 
circumstances the French retreated from 
the latter place, November 24tli, 1758, and 
shortly after relinquished occupation to 
all this section, but not without a despe¬ 
rate struggle and considerable bloodshed 
by the contending forces. 

In Day’s Historical Collections of Penn¬ 
sylvania, published in 1843, is an account 
of the famous oil spring in Venango 
county, the same mentioned by Joncaire 
to Charlevoix in 1721, which includes an 
article taken from a newspaper, purport¬ 
ing to have been written by “ the com¬ 
mandant of Fort Du Quesne to his Excel¬ 
lency General Montcalm,” from which we 
ake the following extract: 

Some of the most astonishing natural 
wonders have been discovered by our peo¬ 
ple. While descending the Allegheny, 
fifteen leagues below the mouth of the 
Conewanga, and three above Fort Ve¬ 
nango, we were invited by the Chief of 
the Senecas, to attend a religious cere¬ 
mony of his tribe. We landed and drew 
up our canoes on a point where a small 
stream entered the river. The tribe ap¬ 
peared unusually solemn. We marched 
up the stream about half a league, where 
the company, a large band it appeared, 
had arrived some days before us. Gigantic 
hills begirt us on every side. The scene 
was really sublime. The great chief then 
recited the conquests and heroisms of their 
ancestors. The surface of the stream was 
covered with a thick scum, which burst 
into a complete conflagration. The oil 
had been gathered and lighted with a 
torch. At a sight of the flames the 
Indians gave forth a triumphant shout, 
that made the hills and valley re-echo 
again.” 




The authority for this communication, 
as important as it seems to be, we have 
been unable to find, but as it has been in¬ 
troduced in almost every article or work 
treating on the history of Petroleum and 
accompanied more or less with errors, in¬ 
duces us here to take this notice. Fort 
Duquesne was not commenced till in the 
spring of 1754, and that the Marquis de 
Montcalm was never Governor General of 
New France, or Canada, and died Septem¬ 
ber 14tli, 1759. The aforesaid, if from a 
genuine document, by its own statement 
must have been written seomwhere be¬ 
tween the beginning of 1756 and the fall 
of 1758, while generally much earlier 
dates have been assigned. The French 
army, by their statements, appear to have 
entered this country by way of Presque 
Isle and Le Boeuf, and which is confirmed 
by the journal of Washington. 

No doubt in consequence of Celeron 
and his party, taking possession of the 
country for the King of France in 1749, 
induced the proprietaries of Pennsylvania 
to amploy Lewis Evans, a surveyor of this 
city, to go on a secret expedition to the 
western parts of the province, with a view 
of acquiring all possible information 

respecting it. For this purpose instruc¬ 
tions were given him, dated June 26th, 
1750, from which we take the following 
extracts : 

The end of your journey is to gain in¬ 
telligence of the western and southern 
bounds of Pennsylvania where not yet 
settled. Minute down any intelligence 
you can procure of metals or minerals in 
this or the neighboring Colonies that may 
in any manner affect the proprietary in¬ 
terest. Make separate descriptions of all 
considerable rivers, their quantity of 
water, falls, what navigation they are 
capable of, and what portages there are 
from them to other rivers. By all safe 
conveyances send accounts of your pro¬ 
ceedings. The parts about Allegeni river 
and its branches, where you will judge 
the Province may extend to, be more par¬ 
ticular in the description of. If possible, 
get a sight of Lake Erie, and some place 
in this Province convenient for establish¬ 
ing a trade thereon. 


Though I have failed up to this time to 
secure positive information that this ex¬ 
pedition was really made, yet there is 
reason to believe that it was performed. 
For instance, Governor James Hamilton, 
in his letter to the Board of Trade in 
1751, says that “ it is from a good map 
only that anything can be said with pre¬ 
cision and clearness on the several parts in 
your Lordship’s letter, and I have waited 
all this time for one, the person on whom 
I depended to make it being, at the time I 
received your Lordship’s commands, at a 
great distance in the uncultivated parts of 
the Province.” Mr. Evans had published 
a map of the Middle Colonies in 1749 and 
was now preparing a second edition, 
greatly improved, which appeared in 1755, 
and has “ Petroleum ” marked thereon 
near the mouth of the present Oil Creek, 
on the Allegheny river. Whether he 
gives this from his own observation or 
from others I am unable to say, but the 
fact is there, and is likely the first that 
gave this mention on a map, at least for 
the English, It is thus seen that his 
knowledge came pretty near the occupa¬ 
tion of the country by the French army 
in the spring of 1753, and thus attracted 

the attention of both sides about the same 
time. 

After the withdrawal of the French and 
the loss of Canada in 1760, we hear noth¬ 
ing further of Petroleum here until the 
visit of that devoted missionary, David 
Zeisberger, of the Moravian Church, 
who first visited the country on the Alle¬ 
gheny river in the autumn of 1767, preach¬ 
ing the following October at an Indian 
settlement at Tionesta, twelve miles dis¬ 
tant from the oil springs spoken of. From 
his life by Bishop De Scliweinetz (p. 353), 
we gather some additional information re¬ 
specting Petroleum derived from his 

manuscripts. He says : 

I have seen three kinds of oil springs— 
such as have an outlet, such as have none, 
and such as rise from the bottom of the 
creeks. From the first water and oil flow 
out together, the oil impregnating the 








(; 


grass and soil; in the second it gathers 
on the surface of the water to the depth 
of the thickness of a finger ; from tire 
third it rises to the surface and flows with 
the current of the creek. The Indians 
prefer wells without an outlet. From 
such they first dip the oil that has ac¬ 
cumulated ; then stir the well, and, when 
the water has settled, fill their kettles with 
fresh oil, which they purify by boiling. 
It is used medicinally, as an ointment for 
toothache, headache, swellings, rheuma¬ 
tism and sprains. Sometimes it is taken 
internally. It is of a brown color, and 
can also be used in lamps. It burns well. 

Mr. Zeisberger returned here from a 
visit to the east in the spring of 1769, and 
had a chapel built containing a bell pre¬ 
sented by the brethern at Bethlehem. 
Owing to some expressions of feeling be¬ 
tween the converts and the oilier Indians, 
he deemed it prudent to remove with his 
flock the following April to the present 
Beaver county, near the Ohio line and 
called the place Friedenstadt, where he 
remained about two years. 

General Benjamin Lincoln in a letter 
written in 1783 to the Rev. Joseph Wil¬ 
lard. President of the University at Cam¬ 
bridge, gives us the following information 
respecting the Petroleum spring : 

In the northern parts of Pennsylvania, 
there is a creek called Oil Creek, which 
empties itself into the Allegheny river, 
issuing from a spring, on the top of which 
floats an oil, similar to what is called Bar- 
badoes tar, anl from which may be col¬ 
lected by one man several gallons in a day. 
The troops in marching that way, halted 
at the spring, collected the oil, and bathed 
their joints with it. This gave them great 
relief, and freed them immediately from 
the rheumatic complaints with which 
many of them were affected. The troops 
drank freely of the waters,—they opera¬ 
ted as a gentle purge. 

This account was published in the year 
1785 in the first volume (p. 375-6) of 
“Memoirs of the American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences ” at Boston, and attracted 

great attention, having been widely repub¬ 
lished. 

Dr John David Schopf an observing Ger¬ 
man and a surgeon to the Hessian troops 


in the British service, visited Pittsburg in 
1783, and mentions in his travels while 
there that he had been informed that 
Petroleum was found at several places up 
the Alleg'lieny, particularly at a spring and 
a creek which was covered with this float¬ 
ing substance. On William Scull’s map of 
Pennsylvania, published in 1770, Oil Creek 
is represented but without a name. On 
the west side of its mouth is given “ Buca- 
loon,” an Indian town, and four miles 
below it another on the same side the 
Allegheny called “ Kusliusdatening.” Ft. 
Venango is indicated on the west side of 
French Creek at its mouth ; but not a sin¬ 
gle white settlement or town is mentioned 

anywhere on said map within one hundred 
miles of the spring-, so wild and little 

known was the country then. The pro¬ 
prietors of the Columbian Magazine, pub¬ 
lished in this city in 1787 a map of Penn¬ 
sylvania for their patrons. Oil Creek is 
represented unnamed, “ Petroleum ” is 
marked near its confluence with the Alle¬ 
gheny, evidently taken from Evan’s Map 
of 1755 ; perhaps induced to do so from 
the late reports sent forth respecting its 
extraordinary medicinal virtues. Reading 
Howell in his maps of 1792 and 1809 did 
not notice it. John Melish in his large 
map of Pennsylvania published in 1822, 
calls it “ Oil Creek,” mentions an “ Oil 
spring” below “Titus’s,” now Titusville, 
named after Jonathan Titus who took up 
land and settled there in 1797 ; and in ad¬ 
dition the “ Oil Springs ” near the mouth 
of the creek, severally represented by 
small circles. This was followed by Will¬ 
iam E. Morris on his map of 1848, with 
the exception of calling the lower ones the 
“ Seneca Oil Springs,” by which name they 
had been generally known, at least in the 
neighborhood for a long time previous. 

The first Gazetteer of the United States 
was published in 1795 by Joseph Scott of 
Philadelphia, from which we take the fol¬ 
lowing account : 

Alleghany, a large uncultivated county 
of Penns} r lvania, bounded north by the 







7 


State of New York and part of Lake Erie, 
east by Alleghany river, which separates 
it from Lycoming and Westmoreland 
counties, west by the North Western Ter¬ 
ritory, and south by Washington county. 
It is 144 miles in lengt h, and 80 in breadth, 
and contains 4,299,920 acres divided into 
six townships, but these contain only a 
small part of the lands in this county. It 
is well watered by the Ohio, Alleghany 
river and French Creek, besides a number 
of small streams. The land in some 
places is poor, but more generally rich 
and well timbered, particularly on French 
Creek. In this county is Oil Creek; it 
Hows from a spring much celebrated for 
bitumen resembling Barbadoes tar, and is 
known by the name of Seneca Oil. It is 
found in such plenty that a man may 
gather several gallons in a day. It is said 
to be a sovereign remedy for various com¬ 
plaints. 

Pittsburg he informs us being the seat 
of justice containg a postoffice and about 

200 dwellings, with a population of 10,309 
inhabitants in the county. Such extracts 
are both curious and instructive and show 
the extraordinary progress made since. 

Mr. Cuming in his “ Sketches of a Tour 
to the Western Country,” in the summer 
of 1807, informs us that 

The virtues of Seneca oil are similar to 
those of British oil and supposed to be 
equally valuable in the cures of rheumatic 
and other pains. Large quantities being 
collected on Oil Creek, a branch of the 
Alleghany river, and sold at from one 
dollar and a half to two dollars per gal¬ 
lon. The mode of collecting it is this : 
the place where it is found bubbling up 
in the creek is surrounded by a wall or 
dam to a narrow compass, a man then 
takes a blanket, flannel, or other woolen 
cloth, to which the oil adheres, and 
spreading over the surface of the enclosed 
pond, presses it down a little, then draws 
it up, and running the cloth through his 
hands, squeezes out the oil into a vessel 
prepared for the purpose ; thus twenty or 
thirty gallons of pure oil can be obtained 
in two or three days by one man. 

Jedediah Morse in his American Geo¬ 
graphy published in 1802, gives some ac¬ 
count of the oil spring on Oil Creek, but 
nothing additional to what has been 
stated, The same may be said of I). B. 


Warden’s “Account of the United States, 
published at Edinburgh in 1819. Thomas 
F. Gordon in his Gazetteer of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, published in 1832, informs us 
that 

A bituminous oil issues from several 
sources on Oil Creek, known as Seneca 
oil ; it colors the waters and emits a strong 
odor, even at the mouth of the creek. 
The oil is burned in lamps, and used in 
various ways ; but is particularly valued 
for its bituminous qualities. Considerable 
quantities are annually sent to the Eastern 
markets. 

Timothy Flint in his Geography of the 
Mississippi Valley, published in 1832, 
speaks of it as a natural curiosity, pos¬ 
sessed of bituminous or unctous matter, 
very probably petroleum and possessing 
medical virtues. He says, “At Pittsburg 
they keep this oil in bottles, and attach 
much confidence to it as containing some 
mysterious efficacy.” Rebecca Eaton in 
her Geography of Pennsylvania, published 
in 1835, mentions it as being collected and 
used for lamps and other purposes in con¬ 
siderable quantities, and also for exporta¬ 
tion. Thomas F. Gordon in his Gazetteer 
of New York (p. 356, Phila., 1836) says in 
relation to the Cuba spring, that “ The pe¬ 
troleum sold in the Eastern States under 
the name of Seneca oil, is not obtained 
here, but from Oil creek, in Venango 
county, Pennsylvania, where it is not only 
more abundant but more pure.” 

In the Historical Collections of Penn¬ 
sylvania by Sherman Day, a valuable work 
published in 1843, we gather a few ad¬ 
ditional facts : 

“ Accordingly,” he says, “ we find in 
almost every direction traces of a numer¬ 
ous Indian population once inhabiting 
this region. Remains of villages are 
found at the mouth of Oil creek, and 
about the mouth and along the waters of 
French creek. This spot has been a fa¬ 
miliar one to Cornplanter. The Common¬ 
wealth of Pennsylvania granted him a 
tract of five hundred acres of land, situa¬ 
ted at the mouth of Oil creek, seven miles 
above this place, and including the oil 
springs, somewhere about 1792. He sold 
it about twenty years ago, This spot has 










8 


been the theatre of many of his actions, 
he was frequently here, and had traded 
extensively at this place in 1787, and sub¬ 
sequently, and had, I suppose, also traded 
with the French when they occupied this 
ground. 

Charles B. Trego in his Geography of 
Pennsylvania, published in 1843, has given 
an interesting account of petroleum in his 
notice of Oil creek, which, he says, 

Derives its name from the substance 
called Seneca oil, which rises in bubbles 
from the bed of the stream, and on reach¬ 
ing the top of the water these bubbles 
explode, leaving the oil floating on the 
surface. Though this oil is found in 
many places throughout the whole course 
of the stream, it is most abundant two or 
three miles from the mouth, several of 
the owners of the land make a business of 
collecting the oil during the dry season, 
as it is most plentiful at low water. From 
two to ten or twelve barrels are collected 
in a season by each of the proprietors ; 
the quantity depending on the prevalence 
of dry weather and low water. In the 
low grounds along this creek, oil may be 
ohtained by digging to a level with the 
bottom of the stream, but when thus pro¬ 
cured it is not so pure and clean as that 
taken upon the surface of the creek. 
This inode of obtaining it has evidently 
been practiced by the Indians, or some 
other people, long before the white man 
set his foot upon the soil of this region. 
Places of four or five acres in extent may 
still be seen, where holes have been dug 
in the ground from six to twelve feet in 
diameter, close together, being yet from 
two to four feet deep, and having trees 
standing on many of them of upwards of 
one hundred years’ growth. On the set¬ 
tlement of this part of the country, some 
of the oldest Indian residents were ques¬ 
tioned respecting these excavations, but 
were unable to give any information con¬ 
cerning them. The medical qualities of 
this oil have been much extolled. Forty 
or fifty years ago it was sold at sixteen 
dollars per gallon ; but its present price 
in Pittsburg is from seventy-five cents to 
one dollar. 

PENNSYLVANIA AND OHIO LINE. 

In 1755 Lewis Evans denoted the exist- 
encence of “ Petroleum ” on his map of 
the Middle Colonies at the present boun¬ 
dary line between the States of Pennsyl¬ 


vania and Ohio, being on the north side 
of the river. It would certainly be curious 
at this time to know how he at this remote 

period arrived at this fact; whether 
he himself was there or received it from a 

French source, or from some one engaged 
in the Indian trade. It is sufficient, how¬ 
ever, that it recieved his attention and was 
so indicated. This map is also the first 
that mentions coal, salt springs, limestone 
and freestone in the present State of Ohio. 

George Henry Loskiel in his “ Ge- 
schichte der Mission der Evangelischen 
Bruder unter den Indianern in Nord- 
amerika,” published at Barby, Germany, 
in 1789, (pp. 151-2), thus speaks on the 
subject: 

One of the most favorite medicines used 
by the Indians is fossil oil (Petroleum), 
exuding from the earth, commonly with 
water. It is said that an Indian in the 
small-pox lay down in the morass to cool 
himself, and soon recovered. This led to 
the discovery of an oil spring in the 
morass, and since that time many others 
have been found in the country of the 
Delawares and the Iroquois. They are- 
observed both in running and standing 
water. In the latter the oil swims on the 
surface and is easily skimmed off, but in 
rivers it is carried away by the stream. 
Two have been discovered by the mission¬ 
aries in the river Ohio. They are easily 
found by the strong smell they emit, and 
even those in rivers and brooks may be 
smelt at the distance of four or five hun¬ 
dred paces. The soil in the neighbor¬ 
hood of these springs is poor, cold, loamy, 
or covered with sand. Neither grass or 
wood thrives on it, except some small 
crippled oaks. It does not seem to pro¬ 
ceed from a vein of coals, for no coals 
have been as yet discovered in the neigh¬ 
borhood of the springs, but strata of 
sandstone only. This oil is of a brown 
color, and smells something like tar. 
When the Indians collect it from a stand¬ 
ing water they first throw away that which 
floats on the top, as it smells stronger 
than that below it. Then they agitate the 
water violently with a stick ; the quantity 
of oil increases with the motion of the 
water,' and after it has settled again the 
oil is skimmed off into kettles and com¬ 
pletely separated from the water by boil¬ 
ing, They u.se it chiefly in external com- 










9 


plaints, especially in the headache, 
toothache, swellings, rheumatism, disloca¬ 
tions, &c., rubbing the part affected with 
it. Some take it inwardly, and it has not 
been found to do harm. It will burn in a 
lamp. The Indians sometimes sell it to 
the white people at four guineas a quart. 

This is certainly a very good account of 
Petroleum, when we consider, too, that 
the writer was a foreigner and not in this 
country till 1802. He subsequently be¬ 
came a bishop in the Moravian Church, 
and lived at Bethlehem, where he died 
February 23d, 1814, aged 74 years. For 
this information no doubt he was indebted 
to the missionaries, particularly Zeis- 
berger. 

John Burson a farmer of the Shenan¬ 
doah valley in emigrating to Ohio in 1806, 
crossed the river near Georgetown and 
there saw persons engaged in collecting 
the scum with woolen blankets from the 
pools. This he learned was chiefly pro¬ 
cured for medical purposes, calling it 
Rock oil. This information was lately 
communicated to me by one of his 
sons. 

Mr. F. Cuming in his Western Tour, in¬ 
forms us that he landed at Georgetown, 
July 19tli, 1807, and states that, 

It contains about thirty houses in a fine 
situation, on a narrow plain, extending 
from the high river bank to the hills 
which surround it like an amphitheatre. 
Though it is a post-town, and a consider¬ 
able thoroughfare of travellers, it is never¬ 
theless on the decline, there being only 
twenty-five housas inhabited. Little 
Beaver Creek nearly opposite, is a hand¬ 
some little river, about thirty yards wide ; 
half a mile below which, we saw the divi¬ 
sion line between Pennsylvania and Vir¬ 
ginia on the left and between the former 
and Ohio on the right. About a mile 
above Little Beaver, in the bed of the 
Ohio, and near the northwestern side, a 
substance bubbles up, and may be col¬ 
lected at particular times on the surface 
of the water, similar to Seneca oil. When 
the water is not too high, it can be 
strongly smelt while crossing the river at 
Georgetown. It is presumed to rise from 
or through a bed of mineral coal em¬ 
boweled under the bed of the river. 


OHIO. 

In a communication on the resources of 
the State of Ohio, written in August, 1808, 
by Gideon C. Forsyth, of Wheeling, and 
published shortly after in the New York 
Medical Repository, he says “there are 
many springs, where the Petroleum or 
Seneca oil is gathered in abundance.” 
Under date of January 17th, 1809, to the 
same publication, Dr. S. P. Hildreth, of 
Marietta, in describing the productions of 
that neighborhood, remarks that 

Seneca oil is a kind of Petroleum, is 
found up the Muskingum, it is obtained 
when the water is low, in the beds of 
creeks and the river. It commonly rises 
in bubbles, which burst and float on the 
water. Where these are seen to rise, they 
enclose the place with stones, to prevent 
the current from carrying it away, and 
sometimes gather a barrel in a few days. 

Dr. Hildreth, in 1819, wrote a series of 
articles relating to the geology and topo¬ 
graphy of Ohio, addressed to his friend 
Caleb Atwater, Esq., of Circleville. From 
ther e we learn that operations were com¬ 
menced in the summer and autumn of 
1817 to bore for salt water on the Little 
Muskingum, for which purpose two wells 

were sunk upwards of 400 feet in depth. 

One, he says, affords a very strong and 
pure water, but not in great quantity. 
The other discharged such vast quantities 
of Petroleum, or, as it is vulgarly called, 
“Seneca Oil ,” and besides, is subject to 
such tremendous explosions of gas as to 
force out all the water, and afford nothing 
but gas for several days, that they may 
make but little or no salt. Nevertheless, 
the Petroleum affords considerable profit, 
and is beginning to be in demand for 
lamps in workshops and manufactories. 
It affords a clear, brisk light when burnt 
in this way, and will be a valuable article 
for lighting the street lamps in the future 
cities of Ohio. 

This remarkable prediction was made 
more than forty years before the success¬ 
ful attempt of Colonel E. L. Drake near 
Titusville, and at a depth six times greater. 
Warden, in his “Account of the United 
States,” also gives us some information in 
1819 respecting the existence of Petroleum 
in the valley of the Muskingum and its 
branches. 













10 


/ 


WESTERN VIRGINIA. 

Although Petroleum has been known 
to exist in Western Virginia for some 
time, I have still been able to find but 
little of interest relating to the subject in 
that section, compared to what has been 
given in the neighboring States and New 
York. General Lincoln, in his communica¬ 
tion to the Rev. Joseph Willard in 1783 
on the oil spring in Pennsylvania, says : 

There is another spring in the western 
part of Virginia, as extraordinary in its 
kind as the one just mentioned, called the 
Burning Spring. It was known a long 
time to the hunters. They frequently en¬ 
camped by it for the sake of obtaining 
good water. Some of them arrived late 
one night, and after making a fire they 
took a brand to light them to the spring. 
On their coming to it some fire dropped 
from the brand, and in an instant the 
water was in a flame, and so continued, 
over which they could roast their meat as 
■soon as by the greatest fire. It was left 
in this situation, and continued burning 
for three months without intermission. 
The fire was extinguished by excluding 
the air from it, or smothering it. The 
water taken from it into a vessel will not 
burn. This shews that the fire is occa¬ 
sioned by nothing more than a vapour 
that ascends from the waters. 

He further informs us that he had re¬ 
ceived this information chiefly from Gen¬ 
eral Washington, who had become the 
owner of the land around the spring from 
the interest he had taken in it as an object 
of curiosity. This may be observed also 
in the notes to the schedule of his will, 
dated July 9tli, 1799, in speaking of his 

lands upon the Great Kanawha, says : 
That “ the tract of which the 125 acres is 

a moeity, was taken up by General 
Andrew Lewis and myself for and on 
account of a bituminous spring which it 
contains, of so inflammable a nature as to 
burn as freely as spirits, and is as nearly 
difficult to extinguish.” 

Thomas Jefferson who wrote his ac¬ 
count in 1781, gives some additional in¬ 
formation. 

In the lower grounds of the Great 
Kanawha, seven miles above the mouth of 


Elk river, and sixty-seven above that of 
the Kanawha itself, is a hole in the earth 
of the capacity of thirty or forty gallons, 
from which issues a bituminous vapor in 
so strong a current as to give the sand 
about its orifice the motion which it has 
in a boiling spring. On presenting a 
lighted candle or torch within eighteen 
inches of the hole it flames up in a column 
of eighteen inches diameter, and of four 
or five feet in height, which sometimes 
burns out within twenty minutes, and at 
other times has been known to continue 
three days, and then has been still left 
burning. The flame is unsteady, of the 
density of that of burning spirits, and 
smells like burning pit coal. 

Joseph Scott in his United States Gaz¬ 
etteer of 1795, and Joseph Martin in the 
Virginia Gazetteer of 1836, have also given 
notices of this spring. 

In the “Account of West Virginia” by 
J. R. Dodge, we learn that in 1825, oil 
was procured by digging pits to the depth 
of a dozen feet or more along Hughes 
river, below the junction of the North and 
South Forks. It was chiefly used as a 
liniment for burns, cuts and bruises. In 
these excavations it was obtained by sim¬ 
ply pouring in water, stirring the sand 
with hoes, and allowing the oil to accu¬ 
mulate on the surface. While boring for 
salt on the Little Kanawha, twenty-seven 
miles from Parkersburg in 1842, Petro¬ 
leum was discovered, but no particular 
efforts made for obtaining it, till in the 
fall of 1859. 

GENERAL REMARKS. 

Petroleum became first introduced as a 
medicine ; of its virtues in this respect 
sufficient has been given in the numerous 
extracts quoted. As it is now so much 
used for giving light, for which purpose 
it is one of the best and cheapest, I deem 
that part of its history of particular inter¬ 
est. David Zeisberger who visited the 
Pennsylvania Oil Region in the summer of 
1767 as a Missionary amongst the Indians, 
mentions in his manuscripts about the oil 
springs there, and that the Petroleum 
“can also be used in lamps. It burns 
well.” This is the earliest mention of this 











11 


use I liave found in our country, and gives 
also the method adopted in purifying it 
by boiling in kettles. This statement is 
confirmed by Bishop Loskiel in his His¬ 
tory of the Indian Missions published in 
1789. Dr. Hildreth of Marietti in 1819, 
in enumerating the advantages of Petro¬ 
leum, says it “ is beginning to be in de¬ 
mand for lamps in workshops and manu¬ 
factories.” 

A letter was published in the Pittsburgh 
Gazette in 1828, suggesting said city be 
lighted at that time by Petroleum : 

I see, says the writer, that the corpora¬ 
tion has at last determined to light the 
city. It is a very sensible determination ; 
for indeed few places need it more. I 
fear that lighting with gas will be found 
troublesome and expensive in spite of the 
vast supply and cheapness of coal ; but I 
will tell you wliat is the cheapest, best, 
and most economical light you can use ; 
it is what is called in the West Seneca oil, 
which is Petroleum. This substance, 
were there a ready market for it might 
be supplied at your very doors to an 
almost unlimited extent. At present it is 
almost useless, being used only as an in¬ 
gredient in what is called “ British oil,” 
and as a horse medicine (in which, by the 
by, it is very useful.) The price of it is 
very low, because a few barrels glut the 
demand of the apothecaries ; but if the 
city would take a large quantity, or if it 
were brought into use otherwise, I think 
it could be supplied at twenty-five cents 
per gallon. The salt wells may be cleared 
of what floats by letting a blanket down 
every quarter of an hour, and this will 
also apply to the springs where it is 
discovered. Let any one who doubts 
that it is a perfectly good oil for lamps, 
send to the apothecary’s for half-a-pint, 
and burn it one night in a lamp of any 
kind, precisely as fish or spermaceti oils 
are burned, observing only that to avoid 
smoke, it is necessary the length of the 
wick, should be diminished. I have tried 
it, and found it to succeed perfectly, and 
there is no reason why it should not be 
clarified as well as any other oil (and then 
it will burn as free from smoke), by filter¬ 
ing or precipitating the gross particles 
contained in what is now brought to 
market. If Seneca oil will supply more 
gas than animal oils, which I do not doubt, 
and if it can be procured at twenty-five 


cents per gallon, a fair trial of it in this 
way would, assuredly, be demanded by 
common prudence. 

Little did the readers of that article 
fifty-eight years ago, expect the facts that 
were therein set forth to be realized about 
one-third of a century later. He men¬ 
tions his mode of burning it, which no 
doubt was the same way to which Gorden 
in his Gazetteer had reference in 1832. 
Charles B. Trego, in 1843, speaks of it as 
burning “ well in lamps, though it emits a 
heavy black smoke and a strong bitumin¬ 
ous odor, which to many persons is disa¬ 
greeable.” 

The discovery of the distillation of oil 
from cannel or bituminous coal, called 
kerosine, greatly aided in bringing the 
natural product into use, by its being 
already at hand and requiring only the 
application of the refining and deodoriz¬ 
ing processes that had been previously 
acquired thereby to produce a much 
cheaper article. With this also came an 
additional improvement in lamps for burn¬ 
ing it. To the cylindrical tube of an inch 
or two in length was added the glass top 
or chimney, which caused it to emit a 
stronger light, cease . smoking and to be 
less easily extinguished in carrying from 
place to place. 

Under the old method of collecting the 
surface oil from the springs along Oil 
Creek, General Samuel Hays, who resided 
since 1803 in that section, estimated the 
highest annual yield at sixteen barrels, 
worth at Pittsburg about one dollar per 
gallon. Charles B. Trego, in 1843, esti¬ 
mated that for some time previous the 
average of each proprietor as producing 
from two to twelve barrels a year, the 
amount being greater with low water in a 
dry season. Gordon, in his Gazeteer, in¬ 
forms us that in 1828 there were five salt 
wells on the Allegheny that made 7,000 
barrels per year ; that these wells were 
generally from 400 to 500 feet deep, and 
one of 750 feet, tubed with copper and 
pumped by steam, but had been previously 







12 


worked by horse-power. This is signifi¬ 
cant, for it shows that in the vicinity of 
the Oil Region, at least one-third of a 
century previous to Colonel Drake’s suc¬ 
cessful boring, that they must have had a 
good knowledge of the art, and all it 
needed was to apply it for that particular 
purpose. In corroboration, in boring for 
salt in 1845, near Tarentum, on the Alle¬ 
gheny river, twenty miles from Pitts¬ 
burgh, abundance of Petroleum was 
found, similar to what was discovered in 
1817 on the Little Muskingum, as related 
by Dr. Hildreth. Also, in boring for salt 
in Western Virginia a number of Petro¬ 
leum springs were struck between the 
years 1825 and 1857, the annual produc¬ 
tion from 1850 to 1857 being estimated by 
Dodge to reach seventy-five barrels per 
annum. Had there been a sufficient de¬ 
mand the business of production could 
have thus been made much greater. The 
wonder is now that it did not come sooner 
in general demand as a cheaper light and 
for the many other useful purposes to 
which it is applied. 

It is very well in reviewing the past for 
nearly two and a half centuries, what has 
been said respecting the discovery and 
early accounts of the importance and 
value of Petroleum in our country, also to 
take some notice of the works that within 
a recent time have given it little or no at¬ 
tention, and under the circumstances are 
occasion for surprise. In Hazard’s Reg¬ 
ister of Pennsylvania for the years 1831 
and 1835, may be seen two lengthy de¬ 
scriptions of Venango county, written it 
appears by correspondents residing there, 
though an account is given of the natural 
resources, not a word is mentioned therein 
of Petroleum. In the article Bitumen, in 
the American Encyclopedia, published in 
this city in 183-5, mention is made of its 
being found abundantly in New York, 
Kentucky and Ohio, “ where it is known 
under the name of Seneca or Genesee oil.” 
Pennsylvania being omitted in the list. 
By order of the State and by its expense, 
a geological survey of Pennsylvania was 
made between the years 1836 and 1857, 
resulting in the publication in 1858 of 
what is called the “ Geology of Pennsyl¬ 
vania,” in two quarto volumes, containing 
without the preface 1,632 pages. In its 
copious index, Petroleum is referred to 
only once, which is at page 583 of volume 
1. “A little Petroleum is found in all of 
those quarries,” speaking of the building 
stone in Erie and a portion of Crawford 


counties. But we do no better respecting- 
Petroleum when we examine the large 
map attached to the work, for we find 
whatever is there respecting it copied 
from John Melish’s map of the State, pub¬ 
lished in 1822, and precisely to the same 
scale. Those engaged on the present 
geological survey we have no doubt will 
give it that attention which its present im¬ 
portance deserves. 

The intention of this paper is purely 
historical, to bring together but not with¬ 
out considerable research the early ac¬ 
counts I have been enabled to find re¬ 
specting it, which I have thought the in¬ 
terest arising from the subject now de¬ 
manded. Giving this opinion only after 
having examined numerous works on 
Petroleum but deemed deficient in this 
particular. So the design is to omit the- 
history of its general use and introduc¬ 
tion, say for the last quarter of a century, 
which has been amply treated upon. To 
show the magnitude of this product we 
present the following statistics: The 
total production of Crude oil in Penn¬ 
sylvania in 1872 was 6,539,000 barrels,. 
West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio, 325,- 
000 and Canada 530,000 barrels. Thus it 
will be seen for said year that this State 
produced considerably over seven times 
more than the rest of the United States 
and British America together. In the- 
year 1874, 417 vessels were loaded with 
Petroleum at Philadelphia, of which 51 
were American, 11 Austrain, 1 Belgium, 
116 British, 6 Danish, 104 German, 1 Hol¬ 
land, 23 Italian, 73 Norwegian, 7 Portugese,. 
7 Russian, 4 Spanish and 23 Swedish, 
carrying 1,652,601 barrels, valued at 
$9,648,063. Exceeding for said time the 
shipment of breadstuffs at the same port 
almost $1,500,000. The total value of Pe¬ 
troleum exported for that year from the 
ports of New York, Boston, Philadelphia 
and Baltimore was $37,000,000. 


On motion of Edward T. Randolph and 
seconded, it was unanimously 

Resolved, That the thanks of the His¬ 
torical Society of Pennsylvania are justly 
due and are hereby presented to Mr. 
William J. Buck, for his interesting and 
instructive discourse just delivered, and 
that a copy be requested for preservation 
in our archives. 

John Wm. Wallace, President. 

Townsend Ward, Secretary. 

Hall of Historical Society, March 13,. 
1876. 
























































































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